EXMOOR LOCAL ACCESS FORUM
To: The Members of the Exmoor Local Access Forum
A meeting of the Exmoor Local Access Forum will be held in Allerford Village Hall, Allerford, near Porlock (location plan attached for Forum members identifying the location of the Village Hall and the village in relation to the A39), on Wednesday, 9 August 2006 at 6 pm.
The meeting will be open to the press and public in accordance with the provisions of reg. 7 of The Local Access Forums (England) Regulations 2002 (under s 94 and 95 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000).
#The normal Public Question Time procedures will not apply at this meeting, given that a large part of it is a public forum for local communities in the area to express views on access, rights of way and general recreation – see Item 5 below.
Martin Palmer
Secretary, Exmoor Local Access Forum
A G E N D A
1. Welcome
To welcome members of the public from the parishes of Selworthy and Minehead Without, Luccombe and Wootton Courtenay. Forum members and officers from the National Park Authority will briefly introduce themselves and their backgrounds and interests.
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Declarations of Interest
Members are asked to declare any direct or indirect personal interests (including financial) in relation to items on the agenda for this meeting and shall disclose the nature of those interests to the meeting.
(NB. The regulations do not prohibit any member having such an interest from remaining in the meeting and participating in the discussion).
4. Minutes
(1) To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Forum held on 31 May 2006 (Item 4, 304 KB).
(2) To consider any Matters Arising from those Minutes.
5. Meet the Community
An invitation from the Local Access Forum for members of the public (including those who represent specific groups) from the three parishes to air your views on how the new right to open access land is working, how the local rights of way network is perceived and what improvements are considered to be necessary and also how access to other recreational pursuits may be improved.
There will also be an opportunity at this point in the meeting for the Forum and the public to comment on a major moorland project on Exmoor upon which the National Park Authority is seeking views, which will be preceded by a presentation from David Lloyd, the Authority’s Team Leader (Moorlands and Wildlife).
6. Proposed changes to the route of the South West Coast Path National Trail on Exmoor
Rob Manicom, Forum member, will report back on his site visits to Culbone Wood and Minehead to North Hill (his thoughts and findings are attached – Item 6, 86.8 KB) and there will be an update on all three proposed routes from Mark Owen, Path Development Officer, South West Coast Path Team.
7. Restricted Byways (Former RUPPs – Roads Used as Public Paths)
(1) To consider a paper from the three Exmoor Safaris on the effects of the closure of the RUPPs for tourism on Exmoor (Item 7.1, 165 KB).
(2) Paul Hawkins, the National Park Authority’s Recreation Manager, will give a presentation on a proposed Restricted Byways consultation and the views of the Forum will be sought (Item 7.2, 168 KB).
8. Consultations
(1) To note the response from Defra regarding Local Access Forums and Consultation, following the issue being raised by Hilary Winter, Regional Co-ordinator, South West Local Access Forums (Item 8.1, 37.5 KB).
(2) To note the responses sent in respect of the consultations on the Regional Spatial Strategy and the draft South West Coast Path Strategy 2006-2011 (Item 8.2, 219 KB).
(3) To consider the Forum’s response to a Defra consultation on ‘Review of England Forestry Strategy’ in respect of access, recreation and tourism (relevant sections enclosed, Item 8.3, 646 KB).
(4) To consider the Forum’s response to the Countryside Agency’s consultation on ‘Outdoors for All? Draft Diversity Action Plan’ (an easy read summary booklet and an Executive Summary enclosed, Item 8.4, 1.74 MB).
9. Commons Act 2006
Jeremy Holtom, Forum member and Chairman, to comment on the effects of this Act which recently received Royal Ascent.
10. Diversion Orders
To receive an update from Alison Kent, Senior Ranger for the National Park Authority.
11. Work Programme 2005/06
To review implementation of this year’s Work Programme (Item 11, 70.3 KB).
12. Annual Report 2005/06
To consider the Forum’s Annual Report for 2005/06, which can be added to from items discussed at this meeting (Item 12, 117 KB).
13. Date of the Next Meeting(s) and Agenda Items
In view of this meeting being two weeks later than planned, it is suggested that the next meeting be held towards the end of October 2006. English Nature would welcome the Forum’s help to resolve some access issues on West Anstey Common and so, if agreed, the meeting would need to be held in the West Anstey/Sandyway area.
Also at the next meeting, it is proposed that Mike Bishop from Active Exmoor be invited to inform members of his organisation’s relationship with outdoor recreation.
14. Any Other Business of Urgency
For further information about the Exmoor Local Access Forum and its work, please contact the Secretary, Martin Palmer, at the postal address, telephone numbers or email address given at the top of this agenda.